Hey, all I know that when I go to certain stores, the fabric, patterns and cut tends to be superior to shirts I buy at TJ Max or Todays Man. If I can’t tell the diference, I’m more than happy to go with the cheaper store. On the other hand, J Crew and Banana Republic stuff is very pretty but it feels cheap and doesn’t last long. With stuff like cargo shorts or T-shirts, it’s pretty much the same whereever you go. Dress shirts and sweaters I notice a big diference in terms of quality.
Anyhow, A&F and half of these stores aren’t for preppy rich people. They are for people with a little money who want to LOOK like they are preppy rich people. How elitist can it be if it’s in every mall in the country? People who grew up with money (the ones I know at least) don’t advertise to the world “HEY! LOOK HOW EXPENSIVE MY T-SHIRT IS!!” They don’t care if you know they’re rich because they take it for granted.
I liked A&F 10 years ago when there was one store I had to drive 40 minutes to go to and I went there because they had stuff that you couldn’t get anywhere else. I never even heard of J Crew or LL Bean until I went to college and started getting their catalogues in my campus mailbox each month. By the time I graduated college, everyone had heard of it and you would see 10 people a day dressed exactly like you.
If you want an authentic A&F look, go to a thrift store and buy some $5 T-shirts from fraternity parties or corporate gold outings. Let it soak overnight in some Abercrombie cologn and then wash it to get the mothball smell out.
A&F proves that “perceived value” has very little to do with intrinsic value. They are able to sell something for $80 that Old Navy can only get $6.00 for…all of which demonstrates that what they are selling is the “value” of the A&F name! There is nothing wrong with this…the same principle applies toall luxury goods. Rolex has been doing it for years…their watches are no better than watches costing much less…but the Rolex name connotes value to its clientele.
What I find interesting: the old A&F was a high-end New York department store, which specialized in serving the very rich…I believe the store had been defunct for many years before the new store got started…I wonder how much the new owners had topay for the name?
Not quite a “department store” - more a marriage of Eddie Bauer and Hammacher Schlemmer. High-end, outdoorsy. Although written by someone who pretty clearly has an ax to grind, this history is consistent with what my Encyclopedia of New York has to say about them: http://salc.wsu.edu/fair_f01/FS5/Documents/fs5/finalwebpage/history/.
Like many retailers, A&F had a rough time of the 60s and 70s, ultimately declaring bankruptcy in 1977. After a series of owners, the Limited bought it in 1988; according to the Limited’s website, the price for 25 stores and the catalog was $46 million - not much. As of 2003, A&F’s sales were over $1.5 billion, with net profit of just shy of $200 million.
That’s funny because I always thought Abercrombie sizes ran bigger. I usually wear a 6 to an 8 in pants, but Abercrobie size-6’s are too big on me, so I have to go down to a 4. At any other store, the 4 would be too small for me.
I probably sound like I shop at A&F all the time, but I usually don’t because of the high prices. When I do go there, I head straight for the sale rack. I like to save money. But if people are willing to pay ridiculous prices for a name brand, then that’s their thing.
Just because someone chooses to pay a little more for their clothing does not make them stupid. Some people have extra money to spend. Other’s simply choose to cultivate a certain look. I find it hard to believe that the anti-Abercrombies in this thread have never purchased something because of the way it looked or because it fit a particular image. I highly doubt everyone here wears utilitarian gray or brown clothing they bought at an Army surplus store for $5.
Paying alot more than something is worth *does[/d] make you at least gullible. Gullible isn’t quite the same thing as stupid, since gullibility usually comes from inexperience, and is curable . When it is recurring, then you might have a full-blown case of stupidity.
I have in fact, never purchased an article of clothing just to fit a particular image. I buy clothing based upon how comfortable it is, cross-checking to see that it doesn’t look entirely stupid on me. I am perfectly capable of doing this without shopping at army surplus stores, and I own and wear colors other than grey and brown. Your statement makes it sound like if you are not shopping at a trendy overpriced clothing store, you must be wearing rags.
I wear both, depending on what mood I’m in. Last week I bought a $50 casual dress shirt (on sale for $20 off) from Express for men and a $6 Stella beer T-shirt from the Salvation Army thrift store. Sometimes I want to look nice. Sometimes I just want something to wear.
I wouldn’t say that people are gullible for buying those shirts. If you are in an environment where people judge you on how you’re dressed (for example, school), $40 is a small price to pay to not be labeled a “dork”.